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June 03, 2013

Massachusetts Communities Go Green with Solar

By Hannah Bond

TMCnet Contributing Writer

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There’s no doubt that increasing solar power usage in a community can have a positive impact on it in many ways; the installation of the solar cells provides jobs while the cells themselves provide clean energy, helping to preserve the community’s environment and lower energy costs. The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources and the Massachusetts Clean Energy (News - Alert) Center have decided to work together to bring solar energy to communities in the state through a program called Solarize Mass.

Solarize Mass works by reducing the price of solar initiatives in a community. The more people that sign up to have solar cells installed, the more the price drops for everyone else in the neighborhood. The program ran last year in a different set of Massachusetts communities. This year, it will cover 10 cities and towns including Brookline, Lee, Medford, Newton and Williamstown. Additionally, the installer of the solar solutions for these communities has been chosen as Real Goods Solar.

Real Goods Solar has prior experience installing large amounts of solar systems in the New England area and even has experience in doing do to take advantage of government initiatives meant to boost solar usage. In Rhode Island, Real Goods Solar provided dozens of customers with solar equipment when an expansion in the eligibility for Renewable Energy Fund led to an increased number of available grants for homeowners.

While many buildings in the eligible cities do not qualify for solar power due to characteristics such as having too small a roof or being located in too shady an area, every resident can still participate by encouraging their friends and neighbors to go green and invest in solar energy while there is an incentive to do so.

The Solarize Mass program comes as part of the work towards reaching Governor Deval Patrick’s goal of Massachusetts having 250 megawatts of solar power by 2017.